


These Homeworld Gems are a Menace

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, All the gems are defective, F/F, Gen, Jasper isn't a villain but is still a jerk, Mom!swap AU, Pearl is the youngest, Smoll Peridot, Steven is still a cinnamon roll, autistic!Pearl, the homeworld gems aren't evil, they're more of a group of misfits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 00:09:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4982134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amethyst hadn't stepped foot on Earth since she had emerged. Pearl barely knew anything about it. Garnet had memories from the war, but had not been a big player.</p>
<p>And yet, they were still giving the job of checking on the Cluster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is a Momswap fic, obviously. But it’s going to be a bit different. Instead of focusing on the Crystal Gems, AKA Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper, this fic will be focusing on the Homeworld Gems, AKA Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst. There will be chapters featuring the Crystal Gems, of course, though.

“Wow, Garnet, this has to be a new record.” Amethyst commented, glancing over at her now fused companion. “We haven’t even left the surface yet. Couldn’t wait, huh?” she teased, lounging back on her seat.

“We are heading into hostile territory. I believe this counts as deadly situation, does it not?” The fusion replied, a small smile turning up the corners of her mouth. She pushed her visor up, checking her future vision Amethyst guessed, before heading to the front of the ship. Probably to check on Pearl. Which was unnecessary in Amethyst’s mind. Pearl was ridiculously smart for a pearl.  

That should be Amethyst’s job, technically, to make sure that the ship was running in tip-top shape. She was the leader, after all. She was defective, yes, 

_“Oh, you should be twice this size.” The technician had noted as Amethyst emerged for the first time. She should have done that five hundred years earlier. How lucky she was that she was found on this last check of the kindergarten before the Homeworld abandoned Earth. What could have become of her then?_

but apparently, Pearl being a pearl, and defective too, Pearl has just ended up with all the luck, and Ruby and Sapphire always being so dangerously close to becoming a permafusion, meant that Amethyst outranked both of them. It was laughable, really. Garnet was basically the most levelheaded gem Amethyst knew. But, appearances were everything on Homeworld. You had to to do your part and never ever stick out.

Which they each had failed to do. That’s why they were stuck with this stupid mission. Garnet had figured it out first. This wasn’t as much as a “go check on the Cluster, our other attempts have…..came across a few problems.” as much as it was a way to get rid of three defective gems. They weren’t even given details about the whole thing. That’s how obvious the whole deal was. Even _Pearl_ caught on after awhile! And she was awful with social understandings.

It was all so ridiculous, Amethyst couldn’t even bring herself to be angry. She settled for making remarks to the Peridot that had handed their ship over to them.

“Does it have to be a hand? A giant foot has more character to it, I feel. Is it too late to change? I’m not in a rush, are you in a rush?”

The Peridot had looked ready to snap, but somehow composed herself. Amethyst did outrank her, after all. How awful would it look for her to offend her superior?  She might end up making a scene and that would be the worst thing to happen, wouldn’t it?

 Amethyst would have cracked up at the whole situation but Sapphire  had given her a disapproving look. Sapphire gave the worst disapproving looks. Well, Garnet had a worse one. Either way, they both made you feel like dirt. She was surprised the fusion hadn’t cornered her for another lecture yet. She was pretty sure she was due for another one.

Garnet’s lectures had many topics and were always short and to the point. There was, “Don’t throw your weight around, Amethyst. That makes you as bad as them.”, and “You didn’t fight in the war, Amethyst, stop lying.” Her personal favorites were “You need to be a better example for Pearl.” and “I’m not going to say anything, but I expect you to know that was wrong.”

The first one always made her want to laugh. Yeah, Pearl was pretty young, but she wasn’t stupid. In fact, Amethyst was certain that it had taken Pearl all of five minutes to realize that Amethyst was a horrible leader and she should just cling to Garnet instead. Not that Amethyst could blame her, honestly.

The kindergarten gem kept herself busy for most of the trip. By busy, she meant she lounged around and occasionally went to go bother Pearl. It wasn’t a very long journey, she couldn’t believe how advanced Homeworld tech was now, only a few days. Once they approached the planet’s atmosphere, the group gathered at the ship’s entrance  to discuss something very important.

Their entrance.  

“I just wish we were given more details.” Pearl fretted, anxiously wringing her hands together. That didn’t stop her from doing an unnecessary twirl when ever she got up to go check on the calculations.

 “Nothing to worry about, P.” Amethyst reassured the younger gem, leaning over to ruffle Pearl’s hair. She only succeeded on it because Pearl was kneeling down to check on one of the ship’s panels. “You have me, don’t you? I already fought a war on this planet!”

Pearl smoothed her hair back down, standing up to give Amethyst a haughty look. “You didn’t fight in the war, Amethyst. You emerged after it ended!” she informed the older gem, getting that “I am only five hundred years old but I basically know everything. At the very least, I know more than you.” tone in her voice again.

Amethyst opened her mouth to further tease Pearl, but Garnet, probably from experience from dealing with Amethyst and Pearl for so long, interrupted.  

“We are here.” she announced, moving into the position they had practiced. They might be disgraces, but that didn’t mean they had to lack style.

“Finally, some action.” Amethyst grinned, stepping out of the ship’s interior. She breathed in, just drinking in the surroundings. Earth was so different from Homeworld. It was such a great change. She finally directed her gaze to the ground below. So, this was the so called “problem.” It looked like three gems, and a…….? Three gems and a something or whatever. She swallowed her disappointment. She had just wanted something worthwhile to do for once. Was that so much to ask for?

 **“** _This is it?_ **”**


	2. Capture and Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Homeworld Gems are horrible villains.

“You need to leave now! Before I start smashing some gems in.” The Jasper growled, stepping in the front of her team.

She was clearly the biggest threat, Garnet noted. A Kindergarten gem it looked like. The other two gems were a Lapis Lazuli and a Peridot. There was a fourth figure, but it didn’t seem to be a gem. A human, she figured.   
Nothing Garnet and her team couldn’t handle. Though, she would prefer to avoid a fight all together. There were so many variables that could go wrong. She could be hotheaded. Amethyst’s unpredictably, while a great asset at times, could spell disaster. Pearl wasn’t as experienced as Garnet and Amethyst were, and she tended to push herself too far. It was a mix-mass of different outcomes that could go any which way.

“The Crystal Gems. We were told that you disbanded after the war.” The fusion spoke up, mimicking the Jasper’s actions. She had been the sidelines for most of the war. Too many “unnecessary” fusions had caught too many eyes of the higher ups. Off to the side with Ruby and Sapphire. They could be watched better that way. But that did not mean that Garnet didn’t hear about Rose Quartz. Any gem on Earth, or just being alive at the time on Homeworld, had heard about the disgraced Pink Diamond. Of course, now, it was all covered up. No one dared to speak about it, at least, not where a superior might hear.

“Well, apparently, you heard wrong, you clod!” The Peridot spat, who was very tiny, Garnet noticed. She reminded Garnet of that mission she and Amethyst had taken about seven hundred years ago. Or maybe it eight hundred? It didn’t matter. Pearl hadn’t been with them yet, that was all that was worth noting. Anyway, it had been a routine check up of Section D, Coordinate 235. It had been a small planet, inhabited by small green creatures. They came up to about Garnet’s knees. They had been loud, pesky, and quite rude. What were they called? Garnet couldn’t remember.  It didn’t matter anyway, Homeworld had started up a few Kindergartens there, and it was deemed uninhabitable about two or three hundred years later.

Fond memories aside, Garnet made a mental note to point the similarities out to Amethyst once this was over. There was a time and place for comedy. The world would have to go on for a little longer without Garnet’s amazing sense of humor.

“Hey, Garnet! She’s like one of those little green things from awhile back!” Amethyst laughed under her breath. “Hey, pipsqueak! Stop your yammering! It sounds like someone stepped on you or something.” The purple quartz called below to the team. Any time was time for Amethyst’s jokes.

“Amethyst! This is serious.” Pearl hissed to the older gem, who only have an uncaring shrug in reply.

“It’s just banter, P. We have to look tough, don’t we?”

“We’re supposed to be checking the Cluster! That’s our mission!”

“I know what the mission is! Just stop taking this so seriously, geez. You’re killing me, Pearl. Killing me with _boredom_.”

“Identify yourselves and surrender.” Garnet cut in. Amethyst and Pearl could go on for hours if given the chance. “Let this go easy for everyone. It will not end well for you if you resist.”

“Get off our beach. This is our planet.” The Lapis Lazuli spoke up for the first time. “You think you can just come to our home and order us around?”

Amethyst yawned, leaning against Garnet’s arm. “This is resisting orders, right? We’re supposed to defeat them or capture them, or whatever?”  

“Probably.” Garnet shrugged.

“Capture us? First you would have to get down from your lousy sh-” The Peridot’s retort was cut off as the Lapis Lazuli moved.

A burst of water slammed into Garnet’s side, knocking her down to the beach. She yanked herself to the beach, to face the Lapis in a rush. A hydromancer. This made her the new biggest threat.

“Aw, geez. Water powers? I thought Ruby and Sapphire were enough.” Amethyst grumbled, picking herself up from the sand.

“This planet is seventy percent water!” Pearl informed the duo, brushing the sand off from her tunic.

“Great.” Garnet grumbled, stepping in front of her team again. “You two take the Lapis. Watch each other’s back. I’ll take the Jasper.” she decided.

The Jasper apparently agreed with this assessment, and Garnet was forced to raise her arm up to block the gem’s punch.   
“A fusion? Homeworld relent up on their rules on that?” The Jasper raised an eyebrow, grabbing Garnet’s arm to throw the fusion over her shoulder.

Well, this was going wonderfully. Garnet pulled herself to her feet again, risking a second’s glance to check up on her teammates. They seemed to be having just a bit more luck. Amethyst had resorted herself to just outright tackling the Lapis. Pearl’s fight seemed to be going the best, surprisingly, she was taking the Peridot on without too much trouble.

Once that quick observation was over, Garnet faced the Jasper once again. She was larger, and packed quite a punch. But Garnet had the advantage of speed.

She lunged at the other gem, aiming to hit first this time. The Jasper’s gem was placed on her nose of all places. Well, at least Garnet had an obvious place to hit.

“Why are you here?” The Jasper growled, grabbing the fusion by the shoulders. “What do you want?” she demanded, headbutting Garnet.

“Confidential.” she grinned, sweeping the other gem off her feet. “I’m not dealing with any hassle if I leak some info.” she shrugged, reforming her right gauntlet to punch the Jasper’s gem. A nice easy retreat back to her gem.

At least that’s what it would have been if the human hadn’t intervened. It threw itself in front of the fallen gem, raising a shield up to block Garnet’s punch.

It was a gem weapon. She could sense that much.   
“What are you?” she murmured, staring at the strange creature before.

“Steven, get out of here!” The Jasper ordered, shoving the not-human behind her. The kindergarten gem growled, facing Garnet once again.

“I’m a Crystal Gem too, Jasper! Let me help!” The ‘Steven’ protested.

“You can help by staying out of the way! You aren’t getting yourself killed over this.”

Garnet yanked herself out her brief moment of shock. The Jasper was distracted with this Steven. She had to take advantage of it.

The fusion lunged at the other gem again, this time succeeding at forcing the Jasper back to her gem.

“Jasper!” The Steven wailed, grabbing her gem from the sand.

The other two gems quickly surrendered after that.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That could have…..gone worse.” Pearl optimistically offered up.

“Could have gone a lot better too.” Garnet pointed out, surveying the two captured gems. Plus, one mystery creature.

“What do we do now? Just leave them locked up while we check on the Cluster?” Amethyst asked, looking up from where she was teasing the Peridot.

“I’m not teasing her! It’s just a bit of after battle banter!” The purple quartz had defended herself once Garnet had given her a look.  

“I guess.” The fusion shrugged. They haven’t really had to deal with a situation like this.

“You wait until Jasper reforms! She’s going to be so peeved!” The Peridot interjected.

“Yeah! She’ll, uh, make your day not so nice?” The Steven helpfully added in.

“Gaaaaarnet, this is boring.” Amethyst whined.

Pearl fretted, lightly rocking back and forth in place. “I think this isn’t protocol, Garnet. What should we do?”

Garnet shrugged again. “I don’t know. Bring them back to Homeworld.” she decided. It was probably the easiest solution for now. Though the idea of turning gems over to Yellow Diamond sat wrong with her. But she had to think what was best for her team, and giving up a few trouble-makers would settle a bit of tension that the trio had caused over the years.

“Load them into the ship. The Cluster will have to wait.”  

 


	3. Breakout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Homeworld Gems are even worse at being prison guards.

There was forty two ways that this could go wrong. Of course, that was only if Pearl discounted the twenty absurd ways. She hadn’t wanted to leave them off her mental list but Amethyst, the mental list had quickly turned into an oral list, had convinced her that having “The ship bursts into flames” was overkill. But what if it did? This is why the others should have agreed to practice the proper emergency drills.  Which were in the ship’s manuel, Pearl would like to point out.

“Pearl, did you make half of these up?” Amethyst had teased, lounging out on her chair in the most undignified way.

It was a ridiculous comment anyway. Pearl had wanted to add just a few little things. Not even for safety reasons. Just little notes she had made about the ship’s engine and such. But she was pretty certain that counted as “tampering private property.” Rule 23, to be exact. So, her notes remained as mental notes.

She had wanted to, though. Just like she had wanted to examine every part of the ship. Maybe take a little part of it apart. She would put it right back together, of course! It would even help her improve her engineering skills. She had to rely on self-taught knowledge, after all. It wasn’t like anyone on Homeworld would teach a Pearl anything like this.

Oh, well. She still had the plug robonoids. It was rather easy to find them. So many gems abandoned them once they found a little flaw in their coding or if they were damaged in some way. It wasn’t like she was doing anything wrong, right? She just picked them up and would fix them to the best of her ability. She had gotten quite good at it too, if you discounted a few mishaps. But they had all sworn themselves to secrecy about the Sector 4 District 5 incident.

It only took a few weeks to put the fire out, anyway.

“Staring at the floor doesn’t get any more entertaining, trust me.” A voice broke Pearl out of her highly important thoughts.

She flushed, ducking her head down to avoid the hair ruffle she knew Amethyst was about to give her. “I was going over the coordinates. I don’t want us to get lost again.” she replied, a bit defensively.

“Suuuuuure, P. Whatever you say.” The older gem grinned, flopping over the side of the seat to squeeze in next to Pearl. “Your turn for guard duty.” she yawned, stretching herself out.

“Already?” Pearl frowned, shifting away from Amethyst. It was pointless attempt as the purple quartz just followed her. It ended with both of them awkwardly squished to the side of the chair. “I just went before Garnet. It’s your turn, Amethyst.” she huffed, elbowing the older gem to gain a little room back for herself. “Stop trying to get out of your share of the work.”

Amethyst tapped her chin, humming under her breath. “True. It is my turn. Buuuuut,” she grinned, and then promptly shoved Pearl off the seat. “You’re already up, oh, well.” Amethyst shrugged, slouching to take the now opened up space.

Pearl had managed to catch herself before she flopped to the floor. That would be undignified and not to mention, embarrassing.

“Fine.” The engineer grumbled, heading out of the cockpit. She could always just tell Garnet about Amethyst’s laziness.

“Make some faces at the prisoners for me! The Jasper gets so mad, it’s great!”

Pearl just walked faster, in a vague attempt to pretend she didn’t hear Amethyst’s call. It was vain, as she could hear the older gem’s laugh from her current position. She slowed to a stop, struggling with herself to stay mature. That would impress Garnet, she hoped, one day.

“Oh, go do it yourself! I’m not doing all of your work for you.” she grumbled under her breath, before heading to the brig.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Guard duty wasn’t that bad. Pearl just ducked her head and stayed near the end of the corridor. The Jasper scared her, not that she would ever admit it. It was only a little bit too, of course. Garnet and Amethyst weren’t scared of anything, so she had to try to be the same.

It was just that all of the yelling and sudden lunges, always in vain once the Jasper hit the gem disrupter, brought up a few bad memories. They weren’t important, though. That was forever ago.

Pearl clenched her fist, forcing herself to stay calm. Just pretend that you were fine with it, and then you will be fine with it. That was what she had to aim for.

A trial run, then. She turned around and walked down the hallway. It was only the Jasper, after all. All the captured gems had been separated. So they couldn’t plot. Or that was what Garnet had figured, anyway.

Pearl felt a small surge of pride when she managed to pass the cell with flinching only once. It wasn’t so bad. She could do this. She had to.

“You aren’t so tough.” she confidently told the Jasper. Not really. She whispered it under her breath. But it would have stunned the other gem into silence if Pearl did ever actually say it, of course.

The engineer smiled a tiny bit to herself, and then moved back down the hallway. It had to be Amethyst's turn for real now. Pearl could even brag to her how guard duty had bothered her in the slightest. It would only be a tiny lie, so it was probably okay.  

Pearl was cut away from her inner thoughts once again as she rounded the corner and promptly ran into a much smaller figure.

There was a silence that went on for what felt like forever. The other gem, the Steven, if she had heard correctly, stared up at her. Pearl stared back, struggling to remember if she had included this in her list.

“..Uh, hello!” The Steven chirped, taking a few steps back. “.....I was looking for the bathroom?”

“What’s a bathroom?” Pearl carefully asked, eyeing the strange gem. Her thoughts finally caught up with her and she summoned her spear in a rush. “Nevermind! How did you get out?” she demanded what was probably the most important question.

“Oh! You know, a bathroom! Where you do all-” The Steven cut himself off, eyes widening a bit at Pearl’s weapon. The gem then fumbled for his garment coverings to reveal a Rose Quartz gem. “Come on, shield.” he whined, taking another step back from Pearl.

An untrained gem, Pearl decided, still in a bit of a daze. He couldn’t call his weapon. That was good for her. She raised her spear but hesitated at the idea of attacking an unarmed gem. It seemed so wrong.

“Go back to your cell, and everything will be fine.” Pearl ordered, hoping that she sounded at least somewhat in control.

“Steven!” The Jasper had evidently noticed the comtion. Well, at least Pearl didn’t have to worry about her.

“Jasper!” The smallest gem yelped, turning to face his teammate. He made an attempt to run to the Jasper, but ended face first on the ground as Pearl tripped him.

She figured that it was the least likely way to severely harm him. Oh, she was going to ask for more training lessons with Garnet after this.

“Ow.” The Steven whimpered, sitting back up. His nose now seemed to be leaking some sort of liquid.

Oh, this was just great. Pearl had probably just mortally injured the other gem. He was going to die right there on the ground, getting that red liquid everywhere, and Garnet would be so displeased with her. This had to be up there on her list of top ten mistakes. Plus, killing an unarmed escape surely violated a rule. Multiple rules, even! At the very least, it broke a moral rule.

“Are you okay?” Pearl eyed the Steven’s face, taking a step back. “Your nose is leaking a liquid I assume is important for a function of some sort.”

The Steven sniffled, wiping some of the red liquid off his face with his sleeve.

Pearl suppressed a shudder at the sight.   

“It’s blood, don’t you know what that is?” he blinked up at her, tilting his head to the side.

In the background, the Jasper was yelling advice that was half “Smash her gem in, Steven!” and half “Steven, you get out of here or I’m kicking you off the soccer team!”

“Is it harmful?” Pearl frowned, ignoring the largest gem for now. It was quite easy once she was distracted. “.....It looks unhygienic.” she added, a bit suspiciously.

“Oh, no-” The Steven cut himself off, and wiped a bit more of the “blood” off onto his hand. He then leaned closer to Pearl, who was at this point crouching down in front of him, and promptly swiped the contents of his hand onto her face. “It’s..uh, a deadly human parasite!”

Pearl recoiled immediately, half because of the other gem’s claim, and half because just the sensation was so _awful_. She realized her mistake, once she had recovered from her very brief trauma, but by then it was already too late.

The Steven had reached the Jasper’s cell and was somehow able to _hold the gem disrupter open_.

Pearl lunged to her feet, grabbing her fallen spear. She swerved to face the larger gem, barely able to stop herself from shaking.

“Well, this is going to be fun.” The Jasper grinned.

 

**  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all who commented and left kudos!


	4. Plummet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jasper wreaks everything and other unsurprising events

This was probably one of the worst days Steven had ever had in the entirety of his very short life. So far, he had watched Jasper be poofed, he was kidnapped and was now in space, his face still hurt and it was still bleeding a bit. But on the bright side, something he always looked for, at least Jasper was fine now!

“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” The boy frowned, bending down to examine the fallen gem. Jasper was really strong so it hadn’t taken her that long to poof the other gem.

“She broke your face.” Jasper muttered, with a tad bit of exasperation. “Come on, we have to find the others.” she added, reaching over to lightly pat Steven’s head.

The half gem gave her a tiny smile and nodded. “Okay!” he agreed, straightening up. He hesitated, and then picked the gem up from the floor. He didn’t want anyone to step on her, even if she did trip him. He wasn’t sure what to do now, would bubbling the gem even work from space? It was a long way from the temple, after all. Steven opened his mouth to ask Jasper, but promptly closed it. “Wait up!” he huffed, darting after Jasper as fast as he could with such short legs.  

“Where do you think they’re keeping Lapis and Peridot?” Steven asked, slipping the gem into his pocket. It seemed like a safe place to keep her for now.

“Just go look for them. Avoid the fusion and the other one.” Jasper ordered. She slowed to a stop, examining a wall. The warrior then lunged forward and punched it. “I’ll provide a distraction.” she smirked, yanking out chunks of wall and other things that looked kind of important to Steven.

“Alright!” he nodded, giving Jasper a grin before running off. The sounds of smashing echoed behind him. Hopefully this won’t turn out like the Funland incident.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re supposed to be on guard duty.”

“It’s no problem, Garnet. Pearl is taking care of it.” Amethyst lazily replied, glancing up at the taller gem. “It’ll be good experience for her or something.”

Garnet gave her one of those looks. “That is not the point…..” she trailed off, frowning. “How long has it been doing that?” The fusion asked, gesturing to the panel that had been brightly flashing for the last few minutes.

The shorter gem shrugged, sitting up. “Oh, that. I figured we needed more fuel.” She had also assumed that Pearl would take care of it once she got back. It wasn’t like Amethyst had payed any attention to any of the lectures or manuals she was supposed to go over.

“Something’s wrong.” Garnet murmured, scooping Amethyst up from the seat. “They escaped.”

Amethyst didn’t bother to ask how Garnet knew. She had been on a team with the fusion for, what was it now? Like almost two thousand? That sounded about right. After all that time, Garnet’s, or Sapphire’s, depending on the mission, future vision wasn’t even weird anymore.

“Oh, great.” The purple quartz sighed, waiting until Garnet placed her down again. “I’ll go find Pearl!” she decided, darting off before her leader could make any other suggestions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She couldn’t believe that she’d screwed up again. This time had to be a new record.

Amethyst just followed the sounds of smashing and angry cursing. There was also a trail of destruction that helped quite nicely, actually.

The Jasper was the cause of it, not that that was surprising. Amethyst stopped at the end of the hallway. No sign of Pearl. Oh, geez, she had to be okay. Yeah, the younger gem was bad with outright physical strength when you got down to it, but she had to be okay.

“Wow, and I thought Ruby’s tantrums were bad.” Amethyst commented, shoving all of those sentimental mushy feelings away for now. Had to be tough at the moment.

The Jasper swerved around, dropping a chunk of wall. “Another one, great.” she grumbled, glancing over Amethyst with a look of distaste. “You going to put up more of a fight or are you going to suck too?”

Amethyst glared back at the taller gem, ignoring the sinking feeling in her throat. “Me? Toughest gem around.” she bragged, summoning her whip. “I would usually go easy on a mess like you, but you messed with Pearl. Now I’m going to have to deal with her crying about it later, probably.” she informed the larger gem, swinging the whip at the Jasper’s legs. Bigger they are, the harder they will smash into the ground.

The Jasper stumbled, but quickly regained her stance. She lunged forward, decking Amethyst in the face. “ _This_ is what Homeworld sent to deal with us?” The Jasper incredulously remarked.

“I know, right? We’re way too great for you.” Amethyst gasped, blinking up at the ceiling. The other gem packed a punch, she would reluctantly admit.

She braced herself for another hit, not that she was certain she could actually even take it, but was saved by her hero.

The Jasper growled, picking herself up from the ground to face Garnet. “Great, the fusion.” she muttered.

“Second time's a charm.” Garnet replied, holding a hand out to help Amethyst up.

“Thanks, G.” The purple quartz gratefully took it, dragging herself to her feet. “I can’t find Pearl.” she admitted. She should have taken her shift. Granted, though, she probably would have screwed that up as well.

“Jasper!” Another voice broke in, the Peridot along with the rest of her group. Great.

And then everything dissolved into chaos.

Amethyst took the trio on while Garnet went head to head with the Jasper again. Literally, head to head, the larger Gem was a big fan of headbutting. Probably because her gem was in such a weird place.

The Lapis was pretty easy now that there wasn’t any water in sight. The Peridot wasn’t a problem either, but she was a dirty fighter. Which was how Amethyst found herself on the ground, trying to pry the smaller gem from off her back. The Peridot even bit her a few times, that was just low. And it was Amethyst’s thing! Fighting dirty, that is. Not biting, though she wouldn’t be ashamed to do it.

Things went even worse as the ship suddenly jolted. Amethyst could say even with her very limited knowledge of engineering, that that wasn’t good.

“What’s wrong?” The Steven frowned, looking up from where he was trying to help the Peridot up. “Oh, that’s it.” he added, peering down the hole Garnet’s and the Jasper’s tussle caused.

Amethyst mimicked the other gem’s action, and glanced down at her teammate. Well, she could see the problem. They were wrecking the engine. Which even Amethyst knew played a part in keeping the ship, you know, in the air.

“Jasper! What are you even doing!?” The Lapis called down. “The ship is going down!”

“No, really?”

All fighting had died down as everyone came to the conclusion that they should probably do something about the whole ship thing. At least, that was Amethyst’s reason.

“Garnet, what do we do?” She yelled to the fusion. “Uh, I don’t know how to fly this thing!”

Garnet decked the Jasper once more, before jumping up to where the rest of the group was. She scooped Amethyst up again, and took off towards the front of the ship. “We’re leaving.”

“What!” The kindergarten gem yelped, glancing back as the enemy team reunited. “What about Pearl?”

Garnet didn’t answer, tucking Amethyst under one arm as she skidded to a stop once they reached their destination.

“Garnet!” Amethyst groaned, making an attempt to wiggle free. At some point, they really needed to have a talk to Garnet about appropriate times to go all silent and mysterious.

The ship jolted again, now speeding in its plument to the surface below. This was now a major problem.

Garnet activated one of the escape pods, dropping Amethyst into it. “I’ll find Pearl and catch up to you later.”

That was a horrible plan. Amethyst hated every part of it. “Not without you!” she protested, but by then the pod had already dislodged from the ship and now falling in its own descend.

Definitely a new record on screwing up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steven sighed in relief, releasing his bubble. They were okay. Everything was okay.

“Nice job, Steven.” Lapis complimented, lightly hugging the half human.

“It was satisfactory, I guess.” Peridot added, that was a huge compliment coming from her, leaning forward to rest her head against Steven’s shoulder.

“Have to watch yourself better next time, kid.” Jasper gruffly put in. Steven wasn’t bothered though. That was how Jasper showed that she cared.

“We won!” he cheered, snuggling up to Jasper so she was now part of the hug. No one should be left out of a group hug. TV had taught him well.

Of course, due to the rules of irony, Garnet stumbled out of the wreckage right after he said it. The fusion caught herself, straightening up to face the Crystal Gems.

Jasper stood up, passing Steven to Lapis. “Ready for round three, already?”

“I’m not fond of repeat performances.” The other gem replied, directing her gaze at Steven. At least he assumed she did. It was hard to tell with the gem’s visor.

Steven scooted closer to Lapis, trying in vain to summon his shield again. The enemy gem had defeated Jasper once. Could she do it again? The second time counted as a tie, probably. On the grounds of a plummet from space.  

“Interesting.” Garnet murmured, barely audible. “Especially if you’re going to lose again.” she directed at Jasper.

“I’ll show you losing.” The larger gem growled, stepping in front of her team.

“You can show me next time.” Garnet replied, smirking just a bit. She stepped back, lightly leaping over a piece of the ship. She glanced at Steven once more before she was gone.

“Don’t let her get away!” Peridot yelped, stumbling over some wreckage.

“Oh, a chase. I was hoping for one.” Lapis sighed, placing Steven back on the ground. “Steven, stay here.”

“I’ll get her!” Steven cried, chasing after Jasper. He didn’t get far, he was exhausted from the day’s events. He reluctantly gave up, plopping back on the sand to wait for his team.

Peridot was next to give up, unsurprising, her legs were the same length as Steven’s after all, flopping over face first next to Steven. “They’re going to chase her for hours. It’s pointless.” she grumbled.

“They’re catch her.” Steven optimistically replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They didn’t.

Lapis came back after a while, sitting down next to Steven with a sigh. “She’s long gone.”

Steven hugged her. “Jasper will. She’s stubborn like that.”

Jasper didn’t either. “Great, now we have two gems we need to track down before they screw everything up even more!” she grumbled, taking her rage out on a piece of rubble.

“But we’ll get them both. We always do!” Steven reassured her. It was a nice distraction from his dad’s reaction to the whole kidnapped thing.

“Or maybe they’re just be eaten by something.” Peridot chimed in. “Then we wouldn’t have to worry about them at all.”

“It’s just two gems. They can’t cause that much damage. Plus, they’re separated too.” Lapis added. “It’ll be fine, Jasper.”

 


	5. Lost and Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot has a bad day, as usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Warning for past abuse for this chapter. )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been about a week since the Homeworld kidnapping situation had occurred. It was a relief to put the whole affair behind them. Not that Peridot had been scared, that would be ridiculous. Lapis’s claims that she had cried was a lie. Peridot was way too “cool”, as the humans would say, to do something as lame as that!

Even if she had cried it would have only been a little. Hypothetically, of course.

Peridot strolled into the kitchen to retrieve her first cup of coffee of the day. Eating food was gross in the majority of cases, but the small gem made an exception for a few food and drinks.

As usual, her timing was the greatest as she promptly came across Lapis and Jasper tearing into each other. Again.

“This is the third time this week!” Peridot complained, raising her voice to be heard over the argument. Great, she didn’t see Steven around either. He was her plan A for breaking feuds up as he possessed the amazing ability to cry on cue and make everyone else feel bad because of it.

She might as well have stayed silent for all the attention Jasper and Lapis payed to her statement. Absolutely none.   

“I don’t know why you keep asking, Jasper.You know the answer, already! You know why, too!”

“It’s not my fault, you hold grudges forever! Just drop it already.”

“Can’t you two at least do this somewhere else? Some people are actually trying to do worthwhile things.” Peridot was ignored once again.

“Don’t you try to blame me for this.You were the one to bring it up, anyway.”

“All I said was that we need something stronger to take on that fusion. Malachite would end all of this, easily, Lapis!”

At this point, Peridot just gave up and headed to the Big Doughnut. She knew how this would end. Lapis would storm away and go sulk in the ocean for a few days. Jasper would smash a counter or the microwave again. They would “make up” after a week and then everything would repeat. It was sad, really. Being able to predict every little thing.

Jasper or Lapis never brought up the fact that they had a third teammate they could fuse with. Oh, sure, Tourmaline and Chrysocolla weren’t exactly the image of strength, but her teammates could have at least mentioned them. A bunch of clods, honestly.

“Sadie changed the wifi password again.” Steven informed Peridot upon her entrance. “She also said to please stop hacking it.” he added, giving her a cheerful smile.

“What right does she have to control the internet, Steven? This is unjust.” Peridot protested, already plucking Steven’s phone out of his hand. She would show that Sadie, all right. Just like every other time. Even if the human sometimes gave her a free coffee. It was the principle of things.

With all of her experience, it did not take Peridot long to resume her internet habits. She promptly pulled up Meme of the Day and settled down for a few hours of browsing.

“Are Jasper and Lapis still fighting?” Steven asked, halting Peridot’s escape into freedom.

“They were when I left.” she grumbled, drawing her legs up to her chest. “It was close to breaking up, though.”

Steven nodded, finishing off his doughnut. He went quiet for a few moments, allowing Peridot a brief moment of hope, before speaking up again. “Do Lapis and Jasper hate each other?” The half human asked, frowning down at the table. “They’re always fighting.”

Peridot froze, keeping her gaze fixed on the phone. Oh, no. She was horrible with these moments. Crying and “personal feelings.” She would prefer to avoid them at all costs.   
She risked a glance up, only to see Steven starting to tear up. She cleared her throat, scanning her thoughts to think of something to say. “Well, I’m sure that they don’t hate each other all the time. Just most of the time.” The gem offered up.

For some reason, her amazing attempt at comforting didn’t seem to help. In fact, Steven looked even closer to crying now.

“They didn’t fight this much before Rose died, anyway. This is a recent thing, really.” she tried again.

Oh, wait.

“What I mean, Steven, is, uh,” Peridot cleared her throat again, handing Steven his phone back. “Oh, who cares about what a bunch of clods do anyway. Just stop worrying about it.” she advised.

Steven sighed, dropping his phone onto the table. “Okay, Peridot.” he replied, giving her a small smile.

Peridot nodded, leaning back. Good, good. No more signs of tears. Now to think of a distraction. “It won’t take us long to find that escape pod.” The gem said. “Along with that Amethyst. Once we have her, the fusion is bound to show up.”

“And then we win!” Steven grinned, bouncing out of his chair. “Then everyone will stop fighting and we can have a beach party!”

“Yeah, sure.” Peridot shrugged, reaching for one of Steven’s doughnuts. One of the few foods she would eat. “We still have to find that Pearl, though. I can’t believe Jasper lost her gem.” she huffed.  

Steven hummed, tapping his chin. “Do you ever get that feeling where you know you forgot something important but you can’t remember what?” The half gem asked.

“Of course not. My memory is perfect.” Peridot bragged. With in luck, the lost gem had ended up getting smashed in the crash. She didn’t mention it, though. Steven tended to be bothered about dark ideas like that.

“Maybe Jasper and Lapis made up by now.” Steven optimistically said. “We should go check!” The boy grinned, darting out of the store. “Race you there!”

“No fair! You had a head start!” The gem protested, getting up to chase after the half human. She was delayed with scooping up Steven’s abandoned phone. So, basically, the race shouldn’t even count.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I hope you know that I let you win, Steven.” Peridot informed the boy, once she caught up to him. They were near the temple by then. Peridot had short legs, she should have an excuse. (Steven also had short legs, of course, but Peridot chose to ignore that little fact.)

“Peridot is a sore loser! Peridot is a sore loooser!” Steven laughed, dancing around the green gem.

“I am not a sore loser!” she objected.

“Then admit that I won!”

“I will do no such thing!”

Steven giggled, plopping down in the sand. “Whatever you say, ‘dot.”

Peridot huffed, sitting down next to him. She wasn’t sulking, of course. She was above that.

“Oh, you left your phone.” The gem handed it over to Steven before laying back. As long as she was on the ground, she might as well enjoy the sky.

“Thanks!” The boy gratefully took it, flopping down next to the other gem. “I wouldn’t want to lose another one.”

“Just stick it in your pants flaps.” Peridot advised, boredly staring up at a cloud.

“You mean my pocket?”

“Yeah, that thing.”

Steven shrugged, laughing to himself again. “Well, you never know what could happen in there. I lose lots of things once I stick them in my pocket. I forgot them, or they fall ou-” The boy cut himself off, jumping to his feet. “How did I forgot that!?” The boy groaned, running over towards the temple without another word.   
“Wait, Steven!” Peridot yelped, stumbling after him. “What’s wrong?”

“I know where that gem is!” The boy called, darting into his house.   
“What?” she demanded, slamming the door after her. She noticed right away that Jasper and Lapis were gone. The counter now also possessed a new crater. How nice.

“I knew I was forgetting something!” Steven excitably informed her, going through his pile of pants. Laundry tended to stack up until someone was bothered by it enough it actually do it. “I put her in my pocket, but then the ship crashed. It slipped my mind after that.”

Peridot rolled her eyes, joining in the search. “You had it the whole time? Of course you did.” she sighed, sticking her hand in one of the pockets. Coins, an ice cream wrapper, some tickets to the arcade, but no pearl.

“Sorry.” The boy blinked, dumping out the contents of another pair of pockets. No gem.

“It’s been a week. She probably reformed by now.” Peridot pointed out, going through another pair. “Then just snuck out of the house to join up with her-”

“Found it!” Steven interrupted, holding the gem up.

“If Jasper asks, we defeated her in battle.” Peridot finished without a beat, scooting closer to see. “Lucky us. She’s a slow one with this, it seems.” she smirked. “Too bad for her-” Peridot was interrupted again, this time by the gem beginning to flow.

Because of course, it did. That was how timing worked out for Peridot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Benitoite was mad at her again. It was happening more and more often. Oh, Pearl hoped that she wouldn’t be moved again. If Benitoite tired of her, it wouldn’t be a surprise with Pearl messing up so often, that would mean that Pearl had managed to fail three different owners.

She didn’t think they would move her one to a fourth one. Not with the way Benitoite talked during the gathering Pearl wasn’t supposed to listen into. She had tried to stop that, though. Pearls weren’t curious. Even when they heard the word “defective” start to come up whenever they were mentioned.

Maybe she was defective. It was explain why she was so wrong. She was too emotional, couldn’t stay still, asked too many questions, too anxious, and countless other flaws she shouldn’t have.

Pearl didn’t really know what happened to unwanted Pearls, but she assumed it wasn’t good.

She had tried to be better this time, though. It worked, too! For a bit. But it had been nice. She wasn’t yelled at or anything, really. Just received a few annoyed looks from Bentonite whenever she fidgeted too much.

Of course, she ended up showing more and more of her flaws. She would ask too many questions, or things along those lines. The more and more she messed up, the more flustered she would grow, and then things would go even worse.

Which was how today ended up like it did. Pearl had done something even worse than her usual little annoyances. She had embarrassed Bentonite in front of a higher up.

Pearl should have expected it, really. She should have been prepared. She did know, after all, that she had a tendency to cry very easily.

Pearls weren’t supposed to cry, either.

“What am I to do with you?” Bentonite sighed, stopping to wait for a warp home.   
That was a rhetorical question. Pearl knew by now that answering just made Bentonite more angry. She ducked her head down, wrapping her arms around her waist to keep herself from doing something wrong like shaking.

There was a silence for a few moments, and Pearl began to hope that this would just pass. She could think of something to make it up to Bentonite later. That might help. She lightly rocked back, just trying to relieve a little of her nerves.

Everything might have just went fine if Pearl didn’t make another mistake. Which she did.

Bentonite, looking more and more annoyed with each moment, moved closer to Pearl. It probably wasn’t even going to be anything serious. Bentonite was most likely going to to just cuff her on the side of the head, to stop Pearl’s fidgeting, she bet.

Pearl flinched back, though. She couldn’t help it. She never could manage to stay still.

Her owner looked furious, other gems were looking by now. Pearl had embarrassed her twice in one day.

“How did I end up with such a defect?” Bentonite glared, raising her arm.

Pearl shrank back, closing her eyes. Why couldn’t she just do something right for once? What was wrong with her?

“I believe you made your point, already.” A new voice broke in.

The gem risked opening her eyes, keeping her head down, just in case. It was another gem. A very tall, Pearl noticed, peering through her bangs. The gem had grabbed Bentonite by the arm, and had stepped in between the owner and the pearl.

“Excuse me?” Bentonite offendly said.

“You scared her. There’s no need to take it any further.” The tall gem calmly replied. “Step away.”

“I’m not sure what you are trying to do.” Bentonite softened her voice. It was the voice she usually used during gathering with her friends when she wanted something. “She’s mine. I’ll ask you to stay out of my business.” The gem looked the other one over. “You’re a fusion.” she added, in a much more spiteful tone.

The other gem shrugged. “Haven’t had time to defuse from my trip. Now, step away.” she repeated.

Pearl shrank back even more. Vaguely, she realized that she should step into this. Protect Bentonite. But she couldn’t force herself to move. (And deep down, she didn’t want to.)

“I am trying to take my leave. If you would step away from my pearl, we can both go on our own paths.” Bentonite tried again, but looked much more unsure this time. The other gem just radiated intimidation.  

“You were going to write her up for deactivation.” The gem bluntly replied, pushing her visor up.

Pearl wasn’t surprised by this, not at all, but something in her throat died, nevertheless, when Bentonite offered up no objections.

“I’ll take her off your hands. You won’t see either of us again.”

“I…..I’ll go to Yellow Diamond about this!” The other gem spat, backing away. She glanced around, noticing the crowd for the first time, it seemed. She straightened herself up, going out with dignity as a last option, Pearl guessed. “Fine. See what I care. I have no use for a defective Pearl, after all.” Bentonite said firmly, before swiftly turning and leaving.

Pearl watched her go, feeling lightheaded. Third owner, gone like that. Horridly, she realized she was crying. And had been for quite a while, it seemed.

“Garnet.” The gem introduced herself, kneeling down to Pearl’s level.

“Pearl.” Pearl managed, making an attempt to force herself to stop crying. Distraction, distraction. “I never met a fusion before.” she blurted out, feeling herself blush. Just stop talking, just stop talking, just stop talking.

A smile tugged at the corner of Garnet’s mouth. “I’ve never met a Pearl before. Or, held a conversation with one, at least.” She offered her hand to Pearl. “We should get moving. Unless, that is, you’re planning on staying here.”

Pearl stared up at her for a few moments, flushing even more. She had so many questions to ask, that they just jumbled up in her mouth. “Okay.” she whispered, managing at least that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pearl never liked reforming. She always took longer than Garnet and Amethyst did, and just the feeling of going from being there, but not there, to having a body, always bothered her. It was such a brief feeling too, she didn’t know why she hated it so much.

This time, her hair was shorter. She was missing that side braid. The sleeves on her tunic weren’t as long. A welcome relief, they had a tendency to tangle into whatever Pearl was doing at the moment.

“Steven! You should have bubbled her by now.” A voice hissed, breaking Pearl away from her distraction.

She wasn’t on the ship. She didn’t know where she was.

But she recognized the other two occupants in the room.  And they weren’t her teammates, that was for sure. She froze, immediately scooting backwards. She had been captured, obviously.

But where were Garnet and Amethyst?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet. woooooo


End file.
